Living Life to the Fullest!

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McDonald’s has a great offer for you as announced on their company site. From August 10-24-2018 by using their mobile app to order and pay, you are entered in their contest which will award one person with FREE McDonald’s for life!

At the end of that time frame one person will be randomly chosen to receive the McGold Card. It
will provide “up to two meals per week for 50 years, awarded as a $1000 credit on winner’s McDonald’s app. and $35,400 cash, plus $15,000 to offset taxes on the price, awarded as a check for $51,000.”

To top off the win will be the receipt of an original one of a kind 24 karat gold plated McGold card phone case.

It is reported that this exclusive perk was originally created by a franchise owner in 1965.

According to Today there are well known persons that also enjoy the McGold card. These include Rob Lowe, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Wouldn’t this just be a great thing to win for a hungry college student?

The 2018 Ford Mustang Bullitt is another of the popular Ford Mustang family. The American brand has accomplished another milestone other than being a very cool car as it has just produced its’
10 millionth vehicle.

The American car has long been celebrated and recognized all over the world as a cool American export.

Ford is counting on the Mustang’s great appeal to expand its’ market overseas in markets such as China and Germany where it is already popular.

The car company is appealing to the sense of the Americans’ sense of freedom and love of the open road as well as nostalgia for the American West and the horse that still enjoys galloping free there.

The Mustang was built for those that liked fast cars and the hope was to attract women and young professionals.

Debuting in the spring of 1964 at the New York World’s Fair, the Mustang was an instant hit.

Ford plans to underline Mustang owners’ loyalty to the brand at this celebration by highlighting the first Mustang ever purchased which is still owned by the original buyer.

Don’t you know that first Mustang owner has many stories to tell about his experiences over the years with that special car.

As I remember getting children off to camp the main thing was to get all clothes washed and folded, towels, sheets, and everything labeled with child’s name. Add the incidentals including addressed post cards and they are ready to roll.

Wow, have times changed! Back in the day the pre-addressed post cards, and even sometimes already composed and written cards, were packed along with all the clothes, bedding, towels, etc. marked with sewn in name labels.

Now, there are just so many more “necessities” to be considered such as all the devices that will
surely cause major withdrawal problems since they aren’t allowed. Then, the snacks bag which is huge and makes one wonder how long is this camp really going to be.

As the SUV is being loaded the question is posed that they might need more room or may have to leave something behind.

Finally, everything is jammed in and the family is on the way for a 5-6 hr. drive.

The dread sets in with the parents anticipating having to say good-bye after they have the kids all settled into their cabins.

It’s just amazing the wisdom of these people in charge at the camp. In no time after the arrival and set-up in their cabins these children see that huge water slides are set up and the other campers are already having a glorious time.

Hugs and kisses are quickly exchanged and ended and amazed parents are on their way home as the boys are headed for the water slides.

Just as with any community if you want certain elements in your area it is important to invite them, provide things that attract them and make them feel welcome. There needs to be things that attract them that will make their lives easier and more enjoyable.

The above recommendations apply to even the birds. If you want a lovely array of birds in your yard, it’s important to landscape with native plants and provide natural foods, protection from the elements as well as predators and nesting areas.

Provide nutritious food for birds coming to your area. Think about it- with the proper food and water provided, that’s a strong welcome mat. Keep the feeders filled and have fresh water available and the birds will come and bring their friends along as well.

Keep chemicals and your friendly neighborhood cats away from the birds. It is estimated that cats kill hundreds of millions of birds a year in the USA alone. Install feeders in areas
where cats have no access.

A major problem for birds is wide windows of glass as they reflect the sky and the birds fly into them and the impact is just too much for them and they die from the impact. An easy solution for this problem is to screen the windows which will soften the impact.

Just a few little accommodations for the birds can insure for use wonderful bird watching experiences.

After putting up a new bird feeder on the deck a few birds came early on and in no time at all we had a an entire flock visiting the feeder.

There were many different species of birds and it was soon like a “cattle call” in show business. There were more birds than one could imagine and some were too big for the feeder.

The question is how did the birds know to come?

It is believed that birds operate much like the old lady in the days of the telephone “party line”. They listen to the various chirps and actually learn
to interpret what they hear and pass it on.

The birds learn the distress language of many birds as well as other species which is imperative for them to learn for their own protection against enemies that are threats in their immediate area. A misunderstanding of the language could mean death.

Also, it has been observed that birds develop their circle of acquaintances and friends just as humans do. This camaraderie helps them with security from predators.

So, as you can see, communication is important for all the species toward a better life experience.

Chipmunks are such busy and necessary little creatures as they scurry about on the deck so unknowingly.

These cute little creatures with stripes of brown, pale yellow and white down their little brownish gray backs are no more than about 6 or 7 inches long and move very quickly. Their urgency gives the impression that they know exactly where they are going and what their mission is.

Chipmunks eat a diet of primarily seeds, nuts, buds, grasses, worms, small frogs, fungi, bird eggs and all sorts of plant matter. They can eat all kinds of cultivated grains and vegetables when it is available which sometimes makes gardeners feel that they are pests.

Food for the chipmunks is mostly found on the ground but they can climb trees for acorns and other nuts, etc. They store non-perishable food in their jaw pouches or in the tunnels where they live that can be as long as ll ft.

Once the eastern chipmunks have their food stored in their immaculately kept tunnels, they settle down for the winter only to be seen when Spring arrives.
The western chipmunks do not hibernate.

The forest ecosystem is helped greatly by these little chipmunks as they help
with the gathering and storing of many different kinds of seed that will be distributed over a wide area.

As I was eating breakfast this morning a family of a doe and two fawns, still sporting their spots, appeared down by the creek in my back yard.
They seemed very hungry for their breakfast as they nibbled at the lush green leaves and I was sure it would be on to the flowers in the front yard soon.

Deer are such beautiful, poised animals that it is hard to wave them away but they can really do some damage to a well manicured lawn.

Friends and neighbors have been very generous with their recommendations for dealing with the prevalent deer population in the neighborhood.

Since spending major money on landscaping I am very motivated in finding remedies that will keep the deer visitors away from my most cherished plants.

After walking over the lawn I saw from a distance that the Easter lilies that I had set out after the holiday had no flowers left as they had suffered the same decapitation as did the black-eyed Susans.

A couple of my neighbors gave me their advice for repelling the deer. At this point I was ready to try almost anything.

One of my neighbors suggested that I try Liquid Fence that can be bought at most any hardware store. I understand it smells terrible as its’ base is garlic and sulfur but it’s supposed to take care of the problem and it doesn’t have a bunch of chemicals in it.

Another neighbor suggested that I try coyote urine which can also be bought at the local hardware store.

So I am off to the local hardware store to check out these recommendations and hopefully save my beautiful yard from “destruction by deer.”

One of my friends has a potbellied pig and she is a great pet and lots of company. This was hard for me to imagine but I have seen it for myself.

Potbellied pigs as pets are not for everyone as they need a fenced in yard and room to roam around in the house.

Betsy, my friend’s pig, has silky soft hair which was a real shock for me. She loves to be around people and to be stroked.

She sleeps in the hallway just outside my friend’s bedroom. She acts as a “watch dog” and considers herself protecting my friend.

It is amazing the strength in the pig’s snout.

On a recent visit I went to get something out of the refrigerator and there were three strips of duct tape on the door. My friend said she had to put the tape there to keep Betsy out of the refrigerator as she had gone in the week before and taken chicken out for herself.

McDonald’s is celebrating its’ 50th birthday with its’ own MacCoin. Customers can join the celebration and receive a MacCoin with the purchase of a Big Mac. The celebration begins Thursday at the lunch hour at 14,000 of McDonald’s participating restaurants across America.

One asks, “what is the coin good for?” Beginning Friday the MacCoin can be redeemed for a Big Mac and the offer extends through 2018.

According to USA Today the date for the release of the coin was chosen because it would have been the 100th birthday of its’ founder, Jim Delligatti, inventor of the Big Mac and a McDonald’s franchisee in western Pennsylvania.

The idea of creating the coin came from the Economist in 1986 using the Big Mac Index to measure the purchasing power of international currency and they still use it today.

An American icon for over 50 years the Big Mac is honored in 2007 with the Big Mac Museum Restauarnt in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

In 2016, the McDonald’s division located in the United Kingdom put up for auction a 740 milliliter bottle of their sauce used in the burger for approximately $95,000 on ebay.

Over the years as we deal with people in different professions we develop opinions of who is trustworthy and who is not.

In a recent Forbes piece these professions were rated in the top five of trusted professions:

People have been skeptical as to the honesty of people in different professions according to the dealings they have personally had with the people in them.

Gallup recently had a poll that shows that nurses rank number one in being trustworthy. For the 16th year nurses have ranked number one by the American public and 82% of people feel that nurses are the most trusted professionals.

Military officers rank in the number two position according to 71% of people saying that military officers have very high honesty standards.

School teachers rank number three in the Gallup poll with 66% of people feeling they rank high in trustworthiness.

Medical doctors and pharmacists rank above 60% in trustworthiness and ethical standards rounding out the top five professions.

Coming in to make up the middle of the pack are judges and clergy who four out of 10 Americans place at a high level of trust.